2008-03-18

Once a scout

…always a scout, I guess.

On this rather ordinary Tuesday – apart from being a vacation day – as I was doing routine stuff in the kitchen, I could let my mind wander a bit. And after a little while found it planning the start of the autumn scouting season.

OK, I did get some inspiration from the DDS leader magazine ‘Broen’, which came in the mail today and had a section on a recent development session in the organisation. ‘TeenSpot’ it was called and was about today’s teenagers, what is rummaging about in their minds, how do we keep them or get them caught in the scouting and so on.

Many people – very surprisingly to scouts – think of scouting as nerdy. One major finding in the study is that one of the core values is the team spirit or solidarity (good English word for ‘sammenhold’, anyone?). That is what scouts again and again name as the most important bit of all the important bits.

And, surely, one that is most enjoyable. Which is why I’m planning on starting right out of the blocks with emphasis on building team spirit in the five new patrols after the summer holidays.

If the rest of the troop leader patrol agrees, of course. Because we need a good team spirit behind it!

2008-03-08

Why 42?

It appears to be 30 years ago that Douglas Adams launched the answer that has been famous for such a long time: 42.

Of all the theories, thoughts and potential answers as to why this was to be the chosen one, I think I like this one the best (lifted from the comments to the bbc.co.uk page above):

42. Is the answer to the question "What do you get if you multiply 6 by 9". Once you come to accept that everything is based on a simple error, all the biggererrors are so much easier to live with. Brendan Johnson, Kenilworth, Warks, UK